The Justice Department is investigating Harvard University’s use of race in admissions, and is warning the school that it is out of compliance with federal civil rights law because it has not provided documents the department requested.

In two letters sent Friday, Justice Department officials said Harvard had not produced “a single document” that had been requested, despite a Nov. 2 deadline, and that the university’s attorney had tried to “side-step Harvard’s Title VI obligations.” Because Harvard receives that federal funding under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, department officials argue, the university must comply with its request. Title VI, part of the Civil Rights Act, prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin in programs that receive federal funding.

The confirmation of the investigation, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, followed months of signaling from the department that it would challenge affirmative action policies.

The highly charged question — battled in multiple U.S. Supreme Court cases — is whether colleges can consider an applicant’s race as a factor in admissions.

The Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly on affirmative action cases in higher education, most recently in June 2016, when it upheld a University of Texas policy that enables race to be a factor in admission decisions. That 4 to 3 ruling was widely interpreted as a green light for the use of race conscious policies in what schools such as Harvard call “holistic” admissions. But critics said the ruling was narrow enough that other lawsuits could be filed to challenge affirmative action..............................cont